BULLETIN OF THE 



U.SIPIffiIOFA«IHi 



No. 71 



Contribution from Office of Experiment Stations, A. C. True, Director, 

 April 30, 1914. 



(PROFESSIONAL PAPER.) 



THE WET LANDS OF SOUTHERN LOUISIANA AND 

 THEIR DRAINAGE. 



By Chaeles W. Okey, Drainage Engineer. 

 INTRODUCTION. 



Louisiana ranks second among the States in the area of swamp land within 

 its borders and in the percentage of its total area that is classed as swamp 

 land. Of a total area of 45,420 square miles, 15,930 square miles, or 35 per cent, 

 are classed as swamp and overflowed land. The drainage of these lands is 

 a public improvement of very great importance to the future wealth and pros- 

 perity of the State. Although the magnitude of the task has long been recog- 

 nized and the tremendous advantage that the reclamation of these lands would 

 bring to the State has been admitted by all concerned, it is only recently that 

 the work of putting the swamp land into condition for cultivation has been 

 attempted on any large scale. A number of conditions are responsible for this 

 delay in the work, among which the following are important : 



First, a very large proportion of the swamp lands of the State was at one 

 time subject to overflow by the Mississippi River. The first step in the drainage 

 of these lands was to protect them from river overflow by levees constructed 

 along the main river channels. This phase of the work has been going on in 

 some parts of the State for more than 100 years, and in nearly all parts of the 

 overflowed section since about 1875. It has been carried forward as fast as the 

 funds could be secured for the work. Second, the former abundance of cheap 

 and well-drained agricultural land in this and other parts of the country made 

 these lands unattractive. Third, the necessary State laws were not until re- 

 cently enacted. 



As the above-mentioned obstacles are now in a measure removed, the work 

 of swamp-land drainage is attracting serious and widespread attention. The 

 most active field of drainage operations is at present in the southern por- 

 tion of the State, and it is here that the Office of Experiment Stations, United 

 States Department of Agriculture, has for about four years been carrying on 

 drainage investigations. The purpose of this work has been: (1) To study the 

 soil, climate, and other natural conditions with special reference to the drain- 

 age problems encountered and the value of the land for agricultural purposes 

 wheu successfully drained. (2) To collect such technical data and to examine 



Note. — This bulletin contains information of value to landowners, engineers, and others 

 interested in drainage by pumping, especially of the wet prairies along the Gulf Coast. 



25102°— Bull. 71—14 1 



